These butterflies are generally
morphologically uniform, but males have major differences in their color
patterns on their wings and they have variable chromosome numbers. This
study shows that breeding between species will lead to unfit hybrids
(reinforcement), thereby keeping species apart. Color differences occur
mainly between closely related species that live in the same area.

The 1918 flu epidemic killed 20-50 million
people worldwide, and in 2005 DNA sequenced from exhumed victims showed that
this virus started as a pure avian strain, only occurring in birds. Studies
showed how the virus had evolved with only a few mutations to infect humans
as well. This increases the concern over the current bird flu threat.

An excellent review paper arguing for closer
interaction between these fields were published by Wiens & Donoghue (2004).
The current distribution of species is dependent both on ecological
limitations and past evolutionary events. A model is presented that can
explain why the tropics have more species based on phylogenetic studies, not
necessarily ecological factors.

Two different populations in the same area
differ in their migration routes and arrival times to breeding grounds in
Germany and Austria, resulting in separation into two, geographically
overlapping populations that later might lead to two different species.

Within the same field, two races of a species
of corn borer is dividing into two different populations based on their food
plant, one eats corn and the other mugwort and hops. The different races
emit different pheromones so they nearly only mate (95%) within their own
race.

One of the most important gene families for
flower development are the MADS-box genes, and several studies have
highlighted how gene duplication and function has changed over millions of
years during the evolution of higher plants. This accounts for important
differences in morphology that are linked to other processes such as
pollination and speciation.

By looking at the evolutionary relationships
within the large tomato/tobacco plant family Solanaceae, which also includes
eggplant, peppers, and potatoes, S. Knapp showed that berries had arisen
several times independently.

Lab exercise: “A viral mystery”. A
case of dentist to patient transmission that was unraveled using
phylogenetic analysis of the viruses. Developed by David Baum, Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison (see Appendix 1 of
Teaching
Evolution Resource Kit).

Human evolution [common ancestry]

The DNA of humans is about 96% the same as
chimpanzees, if you include ‘junk DNA’ regions. If you include only regions
you can align for human and chimp, the similarity is about 99%. The average
protein differs by less than 2 amino acids. In total there are 40 million
differences between the two genomes. The chimp genome was sequenced in 2005.

Stickleback populations that became isolated
in inland lakes after the last Ice Age in Europe have independently lost
their armor plates since they no longer have marine predators. However,
these independent losses are due to the same preexisting DNA defect, that
was rare in the ocean, but now is common in the lake populations, showing
fast adaptations to new environments.

Loren Rieseberg has studied the speciation of
sunflowers through hybridization, chromosome changes, and new ecological
niches. Hybrid species have been shown to be ecologically different from
parent species, taking on new ecological niches.

Example of fittest organisms succeeding, and
yet leading to low population fitness. Parthenogenetic animals can have a
twofold advantage of reproduction. A mutation that allows a female to
produce only daughters that are clones of herself can swiftly replace an
entire sexual population. However the population is reduced long-term
chance of persistence.

Article: R. L. Dunbrack, et al., “The Cost
of Males and the Paradox of Sex - Experimental Investigation of the
Short-Term Competitive Advantages of Evolution in Sexual Populations”,
Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences 262:
45-49 (1995).

Symmetry in flowers in the African violet
family

There are several recent studies where gene
expression and phylogenetic studies has been interlinked to explain the
evolution of particular characters, this is one example.

Introducing tree thinking (how to read a
tree, how a tree is not a ladder, the idea the evolution is ongoing, that
living species are not ancestors, etc.) can been helpful. It can work as an
organizing scheme for parts of the same course or other courses.

For comparative studies, put organisms also
in evolutionary context: - OK, they are different, but how closely related
are there and how much of the difference is inherited from different or
common ancestors? This is important for ecology, environmental sciences,
physiology, molecular biology, neurology, etc. To find phylogenetic
information for particular organisms, try these resources:

Evolution of Life

WWW: Tree of Life web site, a
collaborative effort of biologists from around the world. The project
provides information about the diversity of organisms on Earth, their
evolutionary history (phylogeny), and characteristics. You can navigate
through the tree of Life on this website

Articles: The October 2004 issue of American
Journal of Botany was dedicated to The Tree of Plants, and
includes a variety of review articles, including algae, fungi, evolution of
plant development, fossils, reticulate evolution, ferns, dinoflagellates,
red and green algae, and plastid evolution.

Many resources and ideas for
course topics such as evolution, anthropology, genetics, geology,
systematics, etc., are not listed here since they already are evolutionarily
to a large degree and resources are readily available. But, for those
courses, examples and resources can be drawn from many areas below. Note
that some example topics below do not address biological evolution, but how
evolutionary methods can be used in other disciplines, or topics that are
related to evolution or geology and cosmology through the 'change
through time' concept.

For resources in the form of researchers and
evolutionary research within Rutgers, please see theEVOLUTION at Rutgers web
page.

Agriculture, agronomy, animal and plant
sciences

* evolution of DDT resistance

* evolution of herbicide resistance

* domestication of crops and animal

* breeding, artificial selection vs. natural
selection

* hybridization of species, polyploidization
in plants

* pollination mechanisms and their evolution,
co-evolution with pollinators

·Start with the large and
familiar – elephants, turkeys, cows, and oaks, then go deeper into cells,
molecules and microcosms to explain science. This grabs the attention and
pulls them into the subject.

·Make it relevant to the
students’ own lives and interests, talk about evolution of resistance to
antibiotics, bird flu, anything sex-related, and psychoactive plants, dogs,
and parasites are also popular.

·Introductory biology is often
taught from a structure-function approach, but instead information such as
animal organ systems and plant structures and their functioning could be
placed in a phylogenetic context.

·If you can get them to
understand that birds ARE Dinosaurs, they begin to grasp phylogenetic
taxonomy.

·Understanding that chimps are
more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas is a good
introduction to phylogenetics as well, since “body covered with black hair”
is a plesiomorphy, or ancestral condition.

·Bring in a stick (full of
twigs). Hold it in your left hand. Break a piece off in with your right
hand. You now have a monophyletic group in your right hand, and a
paraphyletic group in your left.

·Tree-thinking is crucial to all
evolutionary understanding (see
examples above).

Some thoughts from university professors:

“I have also placed more
emphasis on distinguishing biological evolution from topics that aren't
actually part of biological evolution. Specifically, I bring in some
cosmology to explain that biological evolution is not a theory about the
origin of the universe, some biochemistry to explain that biological
evolution is not a theory about the origin of life, and some geochemistry to
explain how radiometric dating is used as a tool in the study of biological
evolution. I also spend more time now presenting evidence of evolution from
paleontology, biogeography, and molecular biology. I also point out some of
the major questions that lack answers (e.g., holes in our understanding of
the genetic and developmental mechanisms).”

“We have an advantage here
at BYU [Brigham
Young University] in that we know the religious mindset of most of our
students. So I started by first dispelling the myth that scientists are
atheists. This, I think, is an important misconception to deal with,
especially for evolutionary biologists. Second, I listed seven different
"tenets of creationism" from the creation research center's homepage that go
totally against Mormon doctrine. So after this first 20 minutes, students
who thought they were creationists (many of them) now can no longer count
themselves creationists because they don't believe all these creationist
ideas. So now I have them where I want them ... THINKING (for a change).”

“Bio students are fed a
litany of facts from their first grade-school classes. Evolution provides
an opportunity to base learning on inquiry and hypothesis-driven
predictions. Darwin's Origin is a great example for how the scientific
method works. He allows that creation theory could make predictions about
expected design features. He contrasts those predictions with predictions
from Lamarckian transformism and his descent with modification. Getting the
students to derive their own predictions is difficult, but important for
learning how science works by falsifying competing hypotheses.”

Ecological processes can be dependent of or
interact with evolutionary processes. For an example of this, see Wiens &
Donoghue’s review article, on plant species richness in the tropics (see
examples above).

These can be done from a phylogenetic
perspective, using tree-thinking, evolution of derived characters, and
phylogenies to give students a visual backbone to categorize and understand
biodiversity and the evolution within a group. At Rutgers, this is done in
the Plant Systematics class taught by Lena Struwe. See Tree of Life
resources in this toolkit for more information.

Pathology, parasitology, plant pathology,
weed science

Example: corn borer study (see
examples above).

Philosophy

* evolution in the context of history

* philosophy of science

Physiology

This is often taught from a
structure-function approach, but instead information such as animal organ
systems and plant structures and their functioning could be placed in a
phylogenetic context.

Plant Molecular Biology

Comparative gene expression and gene
evolution can highlight evolutionary processes and how the genotype and
phenotype has evolved.

Example: symmetry in flowers in the African
violet family (see examples above).

Dr. Hal Herzog, Western Carolina University,
bases most of his teaching on evolutionary principles. He studies the
interactions of humans with animals, and one of his favorite teaching topics
is the prevalence of particular dog breeds based on human preferences. He
has shown that breed popularity over time follow a pattern called cultural
drift, which is similar to random genetic drift in biological evolution.